Legislator's anti-gay words draw national focus

Rep. Sally Kern says she does not plan to apologize for comments in which she calls homosexuality "the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.”

Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said she listened to about a minute of the audio that has been posted on the Internet and confirmed she made the comments, but that they were edited "without a doubt.”

"They took a part here and stopped the recording and picked up this part and made it sound like it was one long tirade,” she said. "It is a blanket misrepresentation of what I was doing.”

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, sent letters to Gov. Brad Henry and to House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa.

The Cimarron Alliance Foundation, an Oklahoma City-based group, has sent a letter to Benge stating that Kern "must apologize or be censured by the House of Representatives.”

Benge has no comment on the letter or Kern's comments, his spokeswoman said late Monday.

"The homosexual agenda is destroying this nation; it's just a fact,” Kern is heard saying on a YouTube audio segment. "I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.”

Rep. Al McAffrey, the Legislature's only openly gay member, said he was disappointed by his colleague's comments.

"I resented the fact that she referred to myself and many of my friends that we're worse than terrorists,” said McAffrey, D-Oklahoma City. "She's referring to everyone that works there (at the state Capitol) that happens to have an alternative lifestyle because you're born that way that they're worse than terrorists.”

Kern said she made the comments in January to a Republican club meeting away from the state Capitol. Kern, a former social studies teacher in the Oklahoma City School District, said she talked about efforts by gay rights groups to target conservatives in recent elections.

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Kern often has opposed homosexuality

Kern has not been shy in her criticism of homosexuality during her nearly four years as a state legislator.

In 2005, her first year as a legislator, Kern introduced House Resolution 1039, which urged library officials to restrict children's access to books with homosexual themes. It states that Oklahoma libraries should "confine homosexually themed books and other age-inappropriate material to areas exclusively for adult access and distribution.” The resolution passed, 81-3.

In 2006, Kern introduced House Bill 2158, which would have required the state Board of Libraries to withhold state funding if a public library does not segregate books with homosexual or sexually explicit material from children's sections. The House passed the measure, 60-33. It died in the Senate.

Also that year, she introduced HB 2107, a measure that would have allowed teachers across the state to teach a range of scientific views on the theory of evolution. The House passed the bill, 77-10. It died in the Senate.

This session, Kern is among the authors of HB 2211, called the Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act. Among other things it states students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork and other assignments "free from discrimination based on the religious content.” A House committee passed the measure. It is awaiting action on the House floor.